User talk:AlbertaCulture

February 2014
Hello, I'm Dwpaul. I noticed that you recently removed some content from Symbols of Alberta without explaining why. In the future, it would be helpful to others if you described your changes to Wikipedia with an accurate edit summary. If this was a mistake, don't worry: I restored the removed content. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks!  Dwpaul  Talk   22:43, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Dwpaul - I want to respond to you. I'm new to wikipedia - do you recieve my response if I simply type it here? AlbertaCulture 22:48, 7 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes. When I posted a message on your page the page was added to my Watchlist, so I am alerted if you reply. Please be sure to sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~ ) at the end of your comment.  Dwpaul   Talk   22:53, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Sorry about that. I just created a Wikipedia account half an hour ago because I specifically want to change the Symbols of Alberta page. Some of the information that is currently on the page is incorrect. The official source for the official emblems of Alberta is the Government of Alberta and all of the information related to the official emblems is posted here: http://culture.alberta.ca/about/emblems/default.aspx. For example, the "Shield of Arms" is called the Provincial Shield and it wasn't adopted until September 2013, not 1907. Also, the info about ammolite and the mushroom is incorrect. So if I want to make a change, I simply have to add an edit summary along with my change? Thank you for your message letting me know the proper process. AlbertaCulture (talk) 23:05, 7 February 2014 (UTC)


 * See the edit I have made to the "Other symbols" section to explain that (I assume -- I am not an Albertan (??) ) these are places and things that are popularly associated with (i.e., emblematic of) the province but have not been made official emblems by the provincial government. If that statement is true, it is perfectly OK for the items to remain in the article (and in fact you should not remove them precisely because you represent the government and so cannot edit without conflict of interest -- another, rather complicated issue here, but not one I will take up right now -- please read the linked policy).  You should include an edit summary with every change, so that other editors understand what you are doing, and on a fairly substantial change like this, and one that removes another editor's work, you should present the reason(s) for doing so on the article's Talk page and seek consensus before you make the change (actually, you should ask others to do for you, because of the COI I mentioned). My suggestion is that you expand the information currently presented as needed to explain about the date of adoption, etc. but that you not remove content from the article without seeking consensus. P.S. - Why were you removing the motto?  Dwpaul   Talk   23:15, 7 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Also, and importantly, you could help by updating the links in the references to the official information, some of which are out of date. I updated one of them, with the link you gave above, but actually before I saw that you had given it.  Dwpaul   Talk   23:18, 7 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Also -- and sorry -- I made a rash assumption above, that being that you officially represent the provincial government of Alberta. I may have made it in part because of your username, which could be construed as misleading.  If you are not, then you are not restricted by the COI policy as I suggested, but you probably need to change your username to avoid being forced to do so.  Dwpaul   Talk   23:26, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for all this information. I will need to carefully read through all of the information on how to use Wikipedia properly before I attempt to make more changes. AlbertaCulture (talk) 23:31, 7 February 2014 (UTC)